Slap,
I didn't mean to imply otherwise. My bad. I simply was cautioning that it's a lot easier for me to critique from here in Leavenworth than it is to execute on the ground - I guess because at times I acted similarly to the population when frustrated and exhausted. I'm not proud of it, and looking back I realize my mistake in acting that way. I also know I was exhausted, frustrated, and upset at the casualties I was taking trying to protect a population that didn't seem to want to protect my guys.
It wasn't until later I fully realized that until I could protect them fully and in the long term, they wouldn't help. They were more afraid of the insurgents than of me, because they couldn't trust me to stay. Once I solved that, the problem improved.
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